GermFalcon Strikes a Deal with Honeywell to Sell, Produce Its Anti-Viral 'Drink Cart' For Cleaning Airplanes
Jun 10 2020
Industrial conglomerate Honeywell International snapped up the rights to produce, advertise and sell Long Beach-based Dimer's anti-viral UV-C light machine, the GermFalcon, in a licensing partnership agreement announced on Wednesday.
Created by Elliot Kreitenberg and his father, orthopedic surgeon Arthur Kreitnberg, in their garage seven years ago, the GermFalcon can sanitize a midsize airplane cabin full of germs in about 10 minutes and is being billed as an antidote in the age of COVID-19.
<p>The GermFalcon will be renamed the Honeywell UV Cabin System. </p><p>"This offering is a big win for our airline customers, which are seeking affordable ways to clean their cabins effectively and quickly between flights," said Mike Madsen, Honeywell Aerospace president and chief executive. "Honeywell is working on a range of solutions to help make passengers more comfortable about flying."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzI4MTI5NC9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjc2OTYwMn0.njlE2Lus3W1srIsvLbZBwkyJWXIgamy8tKKK580RQNI/img.gif?width=980" id="a13f4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="29bd9608a0b7da286118f0ef69f6dec4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Courtesy of GermFalcon
<p>Honeywell, a major supplier to Airbus and Boeing among others, is in discussions with several major airlines and service providers for the cabin system. The company has been hurt by the grounding of Boeing's 737 and further struck by plummeting airplane passenger traffic.</p><p>Honeywell is accepting orders and expects the first shipments in July. Pricing will vary, but Honeywell estimates that for midsize to large airlines with hundreds or more aircraft, the cost will break down to about $10 per use.</p><p>The North Carolina company has been bolstering their offerings of products aimed at making flying safer for passengers loathe to go in confined spaces where a virus might easily spread.</p>
<p><span style="background-color: initial;">The size of a drink cart, Kreitenberg sees the GermFalcon as the antidote to the spread of viruses.</span><br/></p><p>"Airlines play a direct role in the way that disease spreads around the world," Elliot Kreitenberg told dot.LA last month. "We see that here with coronavirus. It flew here on airplane."</p><p>Dimer is also continuing to further commercialize and deploy its germicidal UV technology platform known as UVHammer for healthcare. The UVHammer product will target public transportation, education, hospitality, buildings, theaters, arenas and small businesses alike. It's expected to be brought to market in July.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Seven years ago, Elliot Kreitenberg and his father, orthopedic surgeon Arthur Kreitnberg, built a UV-C light machine called GermFalcon to kill viruses on planes, but the airline industry largely rejected their pitch.
Years later with coronavirus all but wiping out air travel, their machine is looking a lot more attractive.
The founders of Long Beach-based Dimer UVC Innovations are in talks with airlines, transit authorities and others desperate to disinfect airplanes, subways and other transportation vehicles where COVID-19 quickly travels.
<p>"We are in serious discussions with U.S. airlines as well as ground service providers, as well as international airlines in Canada, Europe and Southeast Asia," Elliot Kreitenberg said. The company is also talking to several transit authorities about manufacturing their product for them, although he could not reveal the names of anyone due to non-disclosure agreements.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b76cb03087272521cb62c487adbc0042"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WPeIrSTELJc?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">GermFalcon Airplane Disinfection Demo</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPeIrSTELJc" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>Artificially produced UV-C is a common method of sterilization used in hospitals or to clean drinking water, but it hasn't been widely adopted to fight the virus in transportation. That's in part because studies haven't caught up to prove it works, although the light has been shown to be effective against other coronaviruses.<br/></p><p>But, in China, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nishandegnarain/2020/04/17/how-uv-roomba-robots-could-accelerate-the-opening-of-mass-transit-systems/#11c522ca1f7f" target="_blank">busses have been blasted with the blue UV-C rays</a> in an effort to fight the pandemic. </p><p>The Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-expands-research-covid-19-environment" target="_blank">looking at UV light</a> as a solution for large-scale disinfecting in places like schools and offices. And it's attracted the interest of other government agencies, including the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority, which is considering using UVC light to clean its fleet of busses and trains. </p><p>"We're already increasing the frequency of our cleanings and we are doing more deep cleaning," said Jesus Montes, an executive at L.A. Metro's vehicle acquisition and engineering department. "To supplement that, we're looking to things such as foggers and vaporizers and UV."</p><p>Montes has been inviting UV vendors to demonstrate their products. The advantage he's found over vapors or foggers, which can cause damage to the electrical engines, is that UV rays are far less labor intensive and can be used off site.</p><p>Other companies that supply the light to hospitals have seen an uptick in sales. Kreitenberg said they have also been getting orders and expect to have up to 100 of their UV machine made for hospitals finished by mid-May. From there, they will go into production of 10 a day. He said he's already provided Paine Field Airport with a machine that's now in use. And his machine was cleaning airplanes at Los Angeles Airport that had been in-bound from China when travel had not been restricted.<br/></p><p>Dimer keeps its rays to surfaces, where it says it can kill up to 99.9% of bacteria.</p><p><br/></p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzI4MTI3OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTc4NTEzNH0.nz_bmwPOTQEBRTuCaUZ51bzv-Px2Rbv53oYR3yAhmXw/image.jpg?width=980" id="395de" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f0f3b0a772b59b87641612d7ace50bf1" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Courtesy of GermFalcon
<p>"What's nice about this technology is that it's not going to promote resistance to anti-microbial agents," said Leonard Mermel, a professor at Brown University and the medical director of Rhode Island Hospital's Department of Epidemiology and Infection Control who is familiar with the technology.</p><p>Airplanes are particularly tricky because microbes can potentially survive longer.</p><p>"We know some viruses can survive certainly overnight...cooler temperatures and the dryness of airplanes actually improves survival of some viruses like flu."</p><p>Other companies offer UV lighting. But what makes Dimer's $100,000 disinfectant machine different than others that attacks microorganisms, bacterias and superbug is that it's made for airplanes. Amortized over a conservative 5-year lifespan, the machine costs 10¢ per passenger.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzI4MTI5NC9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjc2OTYwMn0.njlE2Lus3W1srIsvLbZBwkyJWXIgamy8tKKK580RQNI/image.gif?width=980" id="70fc7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a269109e752d8df9f40652b5ed57682d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Courtesy of GermFalcon
<p><br></p><p>About the width of a drink cart, the machine slides easily down an airplane aisle and has a winglike feature that spreads the light over seating. He's also making another product that's geared toward hospitals and space that aren't as tight.</p><p>A few years ago, he said he brokered a deal with Virgin America to use the GermFalcon, but it went belly up when Alaska Air Group bought the company for $2.6 billion.</p><p>Arthur Kreinberg, who is also the co-founder of the company, became familiar with the lights through his experience with them in hospitals. He then worked with his son to build their first designs in their garage.</p>
<p><span style="background-color: initial;">"(My paternal grandfather) was a Holocaust survivor and plumber and when my father graduated from medical school he said 'plumbers save more lives than doctors because sanitation plays a big role in public health.' When the toilet was invented it doubled human life expectancy. I think GermFalcon is the most important invention since the toilet."</span><br/></p><p>The World Health Organization considers those that are in contact with an individual infected on a flight and those sitting within two rows at most risk. But, airplanes have a reputation as vectors of germs. </p><p>Elliot Kreitenberg, once a frequent flier, said he's been keeping a log every time he travels of the dirtiest places on the airplane. It's not the toilet handle but, according to his own informal survey, the back of head rests where people touch as they walk down the aisle.</p><p>"Airlines play a direct role in the way that disease spreads around the world," Elliot Kreitenberg said. "We see that here with coronavirus. It flew here on airplane."</p>From Your Site Articles
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